Celesté Martinez (she,hers) is the Organizing Director for United for a New Economy. She joined in 2018 to strengthen UNE’s commitment to being a powerful member led organization for Colorado.
Celesté’s family comes from the borderlands of South Texas and a long history of struggle with limited access to education, health care, and jobs to this day. Growing up with the awareness of how much suffering inequity and injustice can cause, she was struck by how the immigrant community in Colorado faced such blatant discrimination and violence. For this reason, Celesté committed her education to receiving a dual Bachelor’s of Arts in Philosophy and Peace & Justice Studies from Regis University.
Celesté lived in El Salvador in 2014, where she saw first hand how U.S. foreign policy contributes to poverty, gang violence and forced migration of Central Americans. Upon her return to Colorado, she worked for El Centro Humanitario para los Trabajadores furthering her passion to fight for racial, economic and immigrant justice. Celesté previously worked as a Bilingual Organizer with Together Colorado,. There she organized with multi-cultural Catholic parishes in the greater Metro-Denver area as well as led the local, state and national efforts for immigrant rights.
“I am looking forward to strengthening my relationships with fellow leaders of color, who share my aspiration to heal and transform Colorado.“